Kanaan to miss Detroit again.

Mo Nunn Racing driver Tony Kanaan will not start the Tenneco Grand Prix of Detroit for a second consecutive season after a major qualifying crash left him with a mild concussion.

The slippery 2.346-mile Belle Isle circuit in Detroit may not be one of the drivers favourites on the Champ Car calendar but no-one will be glad to see the back of it more than Mo Nunn Racing's Tony Kanaan who injured himself for a second consecutive season in qualifying around The Raceway at Belle Isle forcing him to withdraw from Sunday's 72-lap event.

Last season Kanaan broke his right arm in a qualifying crash in Turn ten of the 12-turn temporary street/road course forcing him to miss not only the Detroit event but also several others as he recuperated. This year he crashed his Reynard-Honda at almost exactly the same place as in 2000 but emerged with only a headache, which doctors later diagnosed as a mild concussion.

Under CART rules, any driver who sustains a concussion is prohibited from racing for seven days but as tests proved negative at the CART medical centre, doctors could only advise him not to race, an advisement that Kanaan took after qualifying 26th and last after going out in his spare car yesterday afternoon after the crash.

Kanaan's withdrawal is especially disappointing for the cheery Brazilian who has threatened to score Nunn's first CART victory as a team owner after branching out on his own at the start of the 2000 season with Kanaan as his lone driver. This year Nunn added two-time CART Champion Alex Zanardi to his stable but Kanaan has outshone his more illustrious team-mate and currently sits ninth in the points table going into Sunday's race just two points behind defending CART Champion Gil De Ferran and 1991 CART Champion Michael Andretti.